ISSUE221 历史的作用是打破幻觉【求拍，有拍必回】

爱上千年的猫UID: 2476232

这篇实在写得太烂，求大家狠拍的同时给点建议如何写这个题目，我实在是。。。


TOPIC: ISSUE221 - "The chief benefit of the study of history is to break down the illusion that people in one period of time are significantly different from people who lived at any other time in history."
WORDS: 504
TIME: 00:43:00
DATE: 2010-3-17 20:38:03

The study of history is such an important process that saves the precious legacy our ancestors left. By studying history, we have a better self-identification and gain more confidence of our ability as human. The speaker asserts that the chief benefit of the study of history is informing us that past people are not so significantly different from us, which is always an illusion when we imagine the past. However, in my view, the speaker's assertion misunderstands the function of the study of history from the very beginning. Moreover, whether such illusion is held by most people is dubious.

To begin with, we should understand the function of the study of history. History has at least two key functions. One is that it objectively informs us what the life was like in the past. By conducting research on the past records, goods, relics, historians can describe the past life in a realistic way rather than pure imagination. The second is to enable us learning lessons from the past in order to avoid similar mistakes. Since some problems had happened some time ago, our ancestors may have already applied some solutions. No matter they are successful of failed, they would certainly give us enlightening ideas. It is the two chief functions that make the study of history such an indispensible academic fields.

Having realized the function of the study of history, we will find that the speaker's assertion is too unilateral that ignores other benefits that studying history would bring us. On one hand, whether the illusion that past people are significantly different from current people exists is in doubt. Without the study of history, most of us would only imagine about the past. Some may assume they are quite different from us while others may think they were living in the similar way as we do. Of course, the study of history would break down the illusion or prove the guess. In deed, the extent to which past people share similarity with us is closely linked with the time. The older the time they live, the more significant differences existed.

However, for those who have never thought past people are significantly different from us, the value of studying history no doubt lies on other aspects. For instance, architects can gain inspirations from past buildings. Novelists can adapt the history events to interesting fictions. Artists can have better understanding of some famous pieces. And most importantly, we are able to learn from past success and failure to solve our problems today. This is definitely a major benefit that the study of history would yield.

In sum, the speaker overstates one aspect among various benefits that the study of history brings about. On one hand, the different between past people and current people is strongly dependent on the time span. On the other hand, other than breaking down the illusion, the chief benefit of studying history lies on the fact that it gives us more information and experience to search for solutions to our problems today.